Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

           
            The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension plans, health plans, and employment related compensation within private industry.

             You may have a claim for a violation of ERISA if:
                

• You were wrongfully denied health benefits;
• You were retaliated against for questioning or testifying about employment compensation or benefits; 
• You were terminated by your employer to prevent you from obtaining specific employment benefits (i.e. vesting of pension);
• You were not provided severance in accordance with a well-defined severance policy of your employer;
• A misrepresentation was made by your employer about your employment benefits;
• You were wrongfully denied requested information related to your employment benefits.

            The types of claims discussed above are not intended to be an exclusive list of possible claims under ERISA, but rather, representative of the most common claims. ERISA is a complicated area of federal law that provides very specific remedies depending on the type of violation alleged.  An employee or former employee must also, in many cases, exhaust certain administrative remedies before bringing such a claim.